The present invention generally relates to farm implements, and more particularly, to an apparatus for folding over corn stalk stubble and the like.
It is widely recognized that farming is a capital-intensive business. It is not unusual for farm tractors to cost more than $100,000 and for tires for such tractors to cost $3,000 a piece. In the past, tractor tires would generally be run at an inflation of 18-20 pounds per square inch. Modern tractor tires are designed to run on a lower air pressure (approximately 7-10 pounds per square inch), thereby allowing the tires to flatten out and minimize soil compaction as the tractor traverses the field. Lower compaction reduces damage to plant roots and facilitates water drainage by the soil. Manufacturers rate such tires to have a normal life of approximately 3,000 hours of operation.
In recent years, no-till farming has become common practice in the United States. No-till farming practices seek to control soil erosion by not plowing fields after the crop has been harvested. The U.S. Government mandates no-till on some lands, and most other farmers have adopted the practice, realizing that it is beneficial to reducing soil erosion and that it minimizes the number of times that the farmer is required to run over his fields during a growing season.
Prior to no-till farming practices, a corn crop (for example) would be harvested and the corn stalk stubble left in the field would be plowed under in the fall. The field would then be replanted again the following spring. Under the no-till methodology, the corn stalk stubble is not plowed under in the fall and the new crops are planted directly over the stubble-laden field the following spring. This means that the corn stalk stubble cures in the field all winter, allowing its water content to be purged, resulting in an extremely stiff stalk. Measurements have shown that the hardness of such cured stalks ranges between 75-95 on the Rockwell scale, whereas the newer low-pressure tires exhibit a hardness of 68-72 Rockwell. The result is that the corn stalk stubble can produce significant wear when the tractor is driven over it in the spring to plant a new crop. In tests performed by the present inventors, cords were visible through the tire tread after just 60 hours of operation under such conditions. Although corn is the principle crop in the United States that causes such accelerated wear, it will be appreciated that the same problem is exhibited to a greater or lesser degree with any crop that leaves a plant-stem stubble after harvesting.
There is therefore a need for a device that will minimize tire wear resulting from driving over corn stalks and the like. The present invention is directed toward meeting this need.
The present invention relates to a device which may be mounted to the front of a tractor and which is operative to fold over corn stalk stubble and the like before they engage the front tires of the tractor. The device positions dragging units in front of each of the front tires of the tractor, whereby the dragging units are dragged over the ground in front of the tires when the tractor is moving. The weight of each of the dragging units is sufficient to cause it to substantially fold over .corn stalk stubble and the like prior to their engagement with the front tires of the tractor, thereby greatly minimizing wear to the tires caused by engagement with the corn stalk stubble and the like.